A hate crime (awso known as a bias-motivated crime or bias crime[1]) is a prejudice-motivated crime which occurs when a perpetrator targets a victim because of his or her membership (or perceived membership) in a certain sociaw group or race.

A hate crime waw is a waw intended to deter bias-motivated viowence.[6]Hate crime waws are distinct from waws against hate speech: hate crime waws enhance de penawties associated wif conduct which is awready criminaw under oder waws, whiwe hate speech waws criminawize a category of speech. Hate speech waws exist in many countries. In de United States, hate crime waws have been uphewd by bof de Supreme Court[7] and wower courts, especiawwy in de case of 'fighting' words and oder viowent speech, but dey are dought by some peopwe to be in confwict wif de First Amendment right to freedom of speech, but hate crimes are onwy reguwated drough dreats of injury or deaf.[8]

The term "hate crime" came into common usage in de United States during de 1980s, but de term is often used retrospectivewy in order to describe events which occurred prior to dat era.[9] From de Roman persecution of Christians to de Nazi swaughter of Jews, hate crimes were committed by bof individuaws and governments wong before de term was commonwy used.[4]

The verb "to wynch" is attributed to de actions of Charwes Lynch, an 18f-century VirginiaQuaker. Lynch, oder miwitia officers, and justices of de peace rounded up Tory sympadizers who were given a summary triaw at an informaw court; sentences handed down incwuded whipping, property seizure, coerced pwedges of awwegiance, and conscription into de miwitary. Originawwy, de term referred to extrajudiciaw organized but unaudorized punishment of criminaws. It water evowved to describe execution outside "ordinary justice." It is highwy associated wif white suppression of African Americans in de Souf, and periods of weak or nonexistent powice audority, as in certain frontier areas of de Owd West.[4]

Hate crimes can have significant and wide-ranging psychowogicaw conseqwences, not onwy for deir direct victims but for oders as weww. A 1999 U.S. study of wesbian and gay victims of viowent hate crimes documented dat dey experienced higher wevews of psychowogicaw distress, incwuding symptoms of depression and anxiety, dan wesbian and gay victims of comparabwe crimes which were not motivated by antigay bias.[12] A manuaw issued by de Attorney-Generaw of de Province of Ontario in Canada wists de fowwowing conseqwences:[13]

Impact on de individuaw victim

psychowogicaw and affective disturbances; repercussions on de victim's identity and sewf-esteem; bof reinforced by a specific hate crime's degree of viowence, which is usuawwy stronger dan dat of a common crime.

Effect on de targeted group

generawized terror in de group to which de victim bewongs, inspiring feewings of vuwnerabiwity among its oder members, who couwd be de next hate crime victims.

Effect on oder vuwnerabwe groups

ominous effects on minority groups or on groups dat identify demsewves wif de targeted group, especiawwy when de referred hate is based on an ideowogy or a doctrine dat preaches simuwtaneouswy against severaw groups.

Effect on de community as a whowe

divisions and factionawism arising in response to hate crimes are particuwarwy damaging to muwticuwturaw societies.

A review of European and American research indicates dat terrorist bombings cause Iswamophobia and hate crimes to fware up but, in cawmer times, dey subside again, awdough to a rewativewy high wevew.[15] Terrorist's most persuasive message is dat of fear and fear, a primary and strong emotion, increases risk estimates and has distortive effects on de perception of ordinary Muswims.[15] Widespread Iswamophobic prejudice seems to contribute to anti-Muswim hate crimes, but indirectwy: terrorist attacks and intensified Iswamophobic prejudice serve as a window of opportunity for extremist groups and networks.[15]

Discriminatory acts constituting harassment or infringement of a person's dignity on de basis of origin, citizenship, race, rewigion, or sex (Penaw Code Articwe 313). Courts have cited bias-based motivation in dewivering sentences, but dere is no expwicit penawty enhancement provision in de Criminaw Code. The government does not track hate crime statistics, awdough dey are rewativewy rare.[16]

Bewgium's Act of 25 February 2003 ("aimed at combating discrimination and modifying de Act of 15 February 1993 which estabwishes de Centre for Eqwaw Opportunities and de Fight against Racism") estabwishes a penawty-enhancement for crimes invowving discrimination on de basis of sex, supposed race, cowor, descent, nationaw or ednic origin, sexuaw orientation, civiw status, birf, fortune, age, rewigious or phiwosophicaw bewiefs, current or future state of heawf and handicap or physicaw features. The Act awso "provides for a civiw remedy to address discrimination, uh-hah-hah-hah."[16] The Act, awong wif de Act of 20 January 2003 ("on strengdening wegiswation against racism"), reqwires de Centre to cowwect and pubwish statisticaw data on racism and discriminatory crimes.[16]

The Criminaw Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina (enacted 2003) "contains provisions prohibiting discrimination by pubwic officiaws on grounds, inter awia, of race, skin cowour, nationaw or ednic background, rewigion and wanguage and prohibiting de restriction by pubwic officiaws of de wanguage rights of de citizens in deir rewations wif de audorities (Articwe 145/1 and 145/2)."[20]

The Czech wegiswation finds its constitutionaw basis in de principwes of eqwawity and non-discrimination contained in de Charter of Fundamentaw Rights and Basic Freedoms. From dere, we can trace two basic wines of protection against hate-motivated incidents: one passes drough criminaw waw, de oder drough civiw waw. The current Czech criminaw wegiswation has impwications bof for decisions about guiwt (affecting de decision wheder to find a defendant guiwty or not guiwty) and decisions concerning sentencing (affecting de extent of de punishment imposed). It has dree wevews, to wit:

a circumstance determining wheder an act is a crime – hate motivation is incwuded in de basic constituent ewements. If hate motivation is not proven, conviction for a hate crime is not possibwe.

a circumstance determining de imposition of a higher penawty – a hate motivation is incwuded in de qwawified constituent ewements for some types of crimes (murder, bodiwy harm). If hate motivation is not proven, de penawty is imposed according to de scawe specified for de basic constituent ewements of de crime.

generaw aggravating circumstance – de court is obwigated to take de hate motivation into account as a generaw aggravating circumstance and determines de amount of penawty to impose. Neverdewess, it is not possibwe to add togeder a generaw aggravating circumstance and a circumstance determining de imposition of a higher penawty. (see Annex for detaiws)

Current criminaw wegiswation does not provide for speciaw penawties for acts dat target anoder by reason of his sexuaw orientation, age or heawf status. Onwy de constituent ewements of de criminaw offense of Incitement to hatred towards a group of persons or to de curtaiwment of deir rights and freedoms, and generaw aggravating circumstances incwude attacking a so-cawwed different group of peopwe. Such a group of peopwe can den, of course, be awso one defined by sexuaw orientation, age or heawf status. A certain disparity has dus been created between, on de one hand, dose groups of peopwe who are victimized by reason of deir skin cowor, faif, nationawity, ednicity or powiticaw persuasion and enjoy increased protection, and, on de oder hand, dose groups dat are victimized by reason of deir sexuaw orientation, age or heawf status and are not granted increased protection, uh-hah-hah-hah. This gap in protection against attacks motivated by de victim's sexuaw orientation, age or heawf status cannot be successfuwwy bridged by interpretation, uh-hah-hah-hah. Interpretation by anawogy is inadmissibwe in criminaw waw, sanctionabwe motivations being exhaustivewy enumerated.[24]

Awdough Danish waw does not incwude expwicit hate crime provisions, "section 80(1) of de Criminaw Code instructs courts to take into account de gravity of de offence and de offender's motive when meting out penawty, and derefore to attach importance to de racist motive of crimes in determining sentence."[25] In recent years judges have used dis provision to increase sentences on de basis of racist motives.[16][26]

Under section 151 of de Criminaw Code of Estonia of 6 June 2001, which entered into force on 1 September 2002, wif amendments and suppwements and as amended by de Law of 8 December 2011, "activities which pubwicwy incite to hatred, viowence or discrimination on de basis of nationawity, race, cowour, sex, wanguage, origin, rewigion, sexuaw orientation, powiticaw opinion, or financiaw or sociaw status, if dis resuwts in danger to de wife, heawf or property of a person, are punishabwe by a fine of up to 300 fine units or by detention".[27]

FinnishCriminaw Code 515/2003 (enacted January 31, 2003) makes "committing a crime against a person, because of his nationaw, raciaw, ednicaw or eqwivawent group" an aggravating circumstance in sentencing.[16][28] In addition, ednic agitation (Finnish: kiihotus kansanryhmää vastaan) is criminawized and carries a fine or a prison sentence of not more dan two years. The prosecution need not prove dat an actuaw danger to an ednic group is caused but onwy dat mawicious message is conveyed. A more aggravated hate crime, warmongering (Finnish: sotaan ywwyttäminen), carries a prison sentence of one to ten years. However, in case of warmongering, de prosecution must prove an overt act dat evidentwy increases de risk dat Finwand is invowved in a war or becomes a target for a miwitary operation, uh-hah-hah-hah. The act in qwestion may consist of

"There is no generaw provision in Georgian waw for racist motivation to be considered an aggravating circumstance in prosecutions of ordinary offenses. Certain crimes invowving racist motivation are, however, defined as specific offenses in de Georgian Criminaw Code of 1999, incwuding murder motivated by raciaw, rewigious, nationaw or ednic intowerance (articwe 109); infwiction of serious injuries motivated by raciaw, rewigious, nationaw or ednic intowerance (articwe 117); and torture motivated by raciaw, rewigious, nationaw or ednic intowerance (articwe 126). ECRI reported no knowwedge of cases in which dis waw has been enforced. There is no systematic monitoring or data cowwection on discrimination in Georgia."[16]

The German Criminaw Code does not have hate crime wegiswation, but instead criminawizes hate speech under a number of different waws, incwuding Vowksverhetzung. In de German wegaw framework motivation is not taken into account whiwe identifying de ewement of de offence. However, widin de sentencing procedure de judge can define certain principwes for determining punishment. In section 46 of de German Criminaw Code it is stated dat "de motives and aims of de perpetrator; de state of mind refwected in de act and de wiwwfuwness invowved in its commission, uh-hah-hah-hah."[31] can be taken into consideration when determining de punishment; under dis statute, hate and bias have been taken into consideration in sentencing in past cases.[32]

Hate crimes are not specificawwy tracked by German powice, but have been studied separatewy: a recentwy pubwished EU "Report on Racism" finds dat raciawwy motivated attacks are freqwent in Germany, identifying 18,142 incidences for 2006, of which 17,597 were motivated by right wing ideowogies, bof about a 14% year-by-year increase.[33] Rewative to de size of de popuwation, dis represents an eightfowd higher rate of hate crimes dan reported in de US during de same period.[34] Awareness of hate crimes and right-wing extremism in Germany remains wow.[35]

Articwe Law 927/1979 "Section 1,1 penawises incitement to discrimination, hatred or viowence towards individuaws or groups because of deir raciaw, nationaw or rewigious origin, drough pubwic written or oraw expressions; Section 1,2 prohibits de estabwishment of, and membership in, organisations which organise propaganda and activities aimed at raciaw discrimination; Section 2 punishes pubwic expression of offensive ideas; Section 3 penawises de act of refusing, in de exercise of one’s occupation, to seww a commodity or to suppwy a service on raciaw grounds."[36] Pubwic prosecutors may press charges even if de victim does not fiwe a compwaint. However, as of 2003, no convictions had been attained under de waw.[37]

Viowent action, cruewty, and coercion by dreat made on de basis of de victim's actuaw or perceived nationaw, ednic, rewigious status or membership in a particuwar sociaw group are punishabwe under articwe 174/B of de Hungarian Criminaw Code.[16] This articwe was added to de Code in 1996.[38]

Section 233a of de Icewandic Penaw Code states "Anyone who in a ridicuwing, swanderous, insuwting, dreatening or any oder manner pubwicwy abuses a person or a group of peopwe on de basis of deir nationawity, skin cowour, race, rewigion or sexuaw orientation, shaww be fined or jaiwed for up to two years."[39]

"The Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act 1989" makes it an offense to incite hatred against any group of persons on account of deir race, cowor, nationawity, rewigion, sexuaw orientation, ednic or nationaw origins, or membership of de Travewwer community, an indigenous minority group."[16]

In Kyrgyzstan, "de Constitution of de State party prohibits any kind of discrimination on grounds of origin, sex, race, nationawity, wanguage, faif, powiticaw or rewigious convictions or any oder personaw or sociaw trait or circumstance, and dat de prohibition against raciaw discrimination is awso incwuded in oder wegiswation, such as de Civiw, Penaw and Labour Codes."[40]

Articwe 299 of de Criminaw Code defines incitement to nationaw, racist, or rewigious hatred as a specific offense. This articwe has been used in powiticaw triaws of suspected members of de banned organization Hizb-ut-Tahrir.[16][41]

Articwe 29 of de penaw code of de Russian Federation bans incitement to riot for de sake of stirring societaw, raciaw, ednic, and rewigious hatred as weww as de promotion of de superiority of de same. Articwe 282 furder incwudes protections against incitement of hatred (incwuding gender) via various means of communication, instiwwing criminaw penawties incwuding fines and imprisonment.[42]

Sections 145 and 146 of de Criminaw Justice Act 2003 reqwire a court to consider wheder a crime which is not specified by de Crime and Disorder Act 1998 is raciawwy or rewigiouswy aggravated, and to consider wheder de fowwowing circumstances were pertinent to de crime:

(a) dat, at de time of committing de offence, or immediatewy before or after doing so, de offender demonstrated towards de victim of de offence hostiwity based on—

(i) de sexuaw orientation (or presumed sexuaw orientation) of de victim, or

(ii) a disabiwity (or presumed disabiwity) of de victim, or

(b) dat de offence is motivated (whowwy or partwy)—

(i) by hostiwity towards persons who are of a particuwar sexuaw orientation, or

(ii) by hostiwity towards persons who have a disabiwity or a particuwar disabiwity.[47][48]

The Crime Survey for Engwand and Wawes (CSEW) reported in 2013 dat dere are an average of 278,000 hate crimes a year wif 40% being reported according to a victims survey, awdough powice records onwy identified around 43,000 hate crimes a year.[49] It was widewy reported dat powice recorded a 57% increase in hate crime compwaints in de four days fowwowing de UK's European Union membership referendum, however a press rewease from de Nationaw Powice Chief's Counciw stated dat "dis shouwd not be read as a nationaw increase in hate crime of 57 per cent”.[50][51]

On December 4, 2013 Essex Powice waunched de ‘Stop de Hate’ initiative as part of a concerted effort to find new ways to tackwe hate crime in Essex. The waunch was marked by a conference in Chewmsford, hosted by Chief Constabwe Stephen Kavanagh, which brought togeder 220 dewegates from a range of partner organisations invowved in de fiewd. The deme of de conference was ‘Report it to Sort it’ and de emphasis was on encouraging peopwe to teww powice if dey have been a victim of hate crime, wheder it be based on race, rewigion, sexuaw orientation, transgender identity or disabiwity.[53]

Perhaps de most high-profiwe hate crime in modern Britain occurred in Ewdam, London, on 24 Apriw 1993, when 18-year-owd bwack student Stephen Lawrence was stabbed to deaf in an attack by a gang of white youds. Two white teenagers were water charged wif de murder, and at weast dree oder suspects were mentioned in de nationaw media, but de charges against dem were dropped widin dree monds after de Crown Prosecution Service concwuded dat dere was insufficient evidence to prosecute. However, a change in de waw a decade water awwowed a suspect to be charged wif a crime twice if new evidence emerged after de originaw charges were dropped or a "not guiwty" verdict was dewivered in court. Gary Dobson, who had been charged wif de murder in de initiaw 1993 investigation, was found guiwty of Stephen Lawrence's murder in January 2012 and sentenced to wife imprisonment, as was David Norris, who had not been charged in 1993. A dird suspect, Luke Knight, had been charged in 1993 but was not charged when de case came to court nearwy 20 years water.

Under ScottishCommon waw[citation needed] de courts can take any aggravating factor into account when sentencing someone found guiwty of an offence. There is wegiswation deawing wif de offences of incitement of raciaw hatred, raciawwy aggravated harassment, prejudice rewating to rewigious bewiefs, disabiwity, sexuaw orientation, and transgender identity.[55] A Scottish Executive working group examined de issue of hate crime and ways of combating crime motivated by sociaw prejudice, reporting in 2004.[56] Its main recommendations were not impwemented, but in deir manifestos for de Scottish Parwiament ewection, 2007 severaw powiticaw parties incwuded commitments to wegiswate in dis area, incwuding de Scottish Nationaw Party who now form de Scottish Government. The Offences (Aggravation by Prejudice) (Scotwand) Biww was introduced on 19 May 2008 by Patrick Harvie MSP,[57] having been prepared wif support from de Scottish Government, and was passed unanimouswy by de parwiament on 3 June 2009.[58]

"In Canada de wegaw definition of hate crime can be found in sections 318 and 319 of de Criminaw Code". [59]

In 1996 de federaw government amended a section of de Criminaw Code dat pertains to sentencing. Specificawwy, section 718.2. The section states (wif regard to de hate crime):

A court dat imposes a sentence shaww awso take into consideration de fowwowing principwes:

(a) a sentence shouwd be increased or reduced to account for any rewevant aggravating or mitigating circumstances rewating to de offence or de offender, and, widout wimiting de generawity of de foregoing,

A vast majority (84 per cent) of hate crime perpetrators were "mawe, wif an average age of just under 30. Less dan 10 of dose accused had criminaw records, and wess dan 5 per cent had previous hate crime invowvement (ibid O’Grady 2010 page 163.)." [60] "Onwy 4 percent of hate crimes were winked to an organized or extremist group (Siwver et aw., 2004)." [61]

As of 2004, Jewish peopwe were de wargest ednic group targeted by hate crimes, fowwowed by bwacks, Muswims, Souf Asians, and homosexuaws (Siwver et aw., 2004).[61]

During de Nazi regime, anti-Semitism was a cause of hate rewated viowence in Canada. For exampwe, on August 16, 1933 dere was a basebaww game in Toronto and one team was made up of mostwy Jewish pwayers. At de end of de game, a group of Nazi sympadizers unfowded a Swastika fwag and shouted ‘Heiw Hitwer’. That event erupted into a braww dat had Jews and Itawians against Angwo Canadians and de braww went on for hours.[59]

The first time someone was charged wif hate speech over de internet occurred on 27 March 1996. "A Winnipeg teenager was arrested by de powice for sending an emaiw to a wocaw powiticaw activist dat contained de message ‘Deaf to homosexuaws’ it’s prescribed in de Bibwe! Better watch out next Gay Pride Week.’ (Nairne, 1996)."[61]

Hate crime waws have a wong history in de United States. The first hate crime[63] waws were passed after de American Civiw War, beginning wif de Civiw Rights Act of 1871, to combat de growing number of raciawwy motivated crimes being committed by de Reconstruction era Ku Kwux Kwan. The modern era of hate-crime wegiswation began in 1968 wif de passage of federaw statute, 18 U.S. 245, part of de Civiw Rights Act which made it iwwegaw to "by force or by dreat of force, injure, intimidate, or interfere wif anyone who is engaged in six specified protected activities, by reason of deir race, cowor, rewigion, or nationaw origin." However, "The prosecution of such crimes must be certified by de U.S. attorney generaw.".[64]

The first state hate-crime statute, Cawifornia's Section 190.2, was passed in 1978 and provided for penawty enhancement in cases where murder was motivated by prejudice against four "protected status" categories: race, rewigion, cowor, and nationaw origin, uh-hah-hah-hah. Washington incwuded ancestry in a statute passed in 1981. Awaska incwuded creed and sex in 1982 and water disabiwity, sexuaw orientation, and ednicity. In de 1990s some state waws began to incwude age, maritaw status, membership in de armed forces, and membership in civiw rights organizations.[65]

Defined in de 1999 Nationaw Crime Victim Survey, "A hate crime is a criminaw offense. In de United States, federaw prosecution is possibwe for hate crimes committed on de basis of a person's race, rewigion, or nation origin when engaging in a federawwy protected activity." In 2009, de Matdew Shepard Act added actuaw or perceived gender, gender identity, sexuaw orientation, and disabiwity to de federaw definition, and dropped de prereqwisite dat de victim be engaging in a federawwy protected activity.

Forty-five states and de District of Cowumbia have statutes criminawizing various types of hate crimes. Thirty-one states and de District of Cowumbia have statutes creating a civiw cause of action in addition to de criminaw penawty for simiwar acts. Twenty-seven states and de District of Cowumbia have statutes reqwiring de state to cowwect hate crime statistics.[67]

According to de FBI Hate Crime Statistics report for 2006, hate crimes increased nearwy 8% nationwide, wif a totaw of 7,722 incidents and 9,080 offenses reported by participating waw enforcement agencies. Of de 5,449 crimes against persons, 46% were cwassified as intimidation and 32% as simpwe assauwts. 81% of de 3,593 crimes against property were acts of vandawism or destruction, uh-hah-hah-hah.[68]

However, according to de FBI Hate Crime Statistics for 2007, de number of hate crimes decreased to 7,624 incidents reported by participating waw enforcement agencies.[69] These incidents incwuded 9 murders and 2 rapes(out of de awmost 17,000 murders and 90,000 forcibwe rapes committed in de U.S. in 2007).[70]

Attorney Generaw Eric Howder said in June 2009 dat recent kiwwings show de need for a tougher U.S. hate crimes waw to stop "viowence masqwerading as powiticaw activism".[71]

The 2011 hate crime statistics show 46.9% were motivated by race and 20.8% by sexuaw orientation, uh-hah-hah-hah.[72]

Prosecutions of hate crimes have been difficuwt in de United States. Recentwy dough, state governments have attempted to re-investigate and re-try past hate crimes. One prominent exampwe is Mississippi's decision in 1990 to retry Byron De La Beckwif for de murder of Medgar Evers, a prominent figure in de NAACP.[74] This wouwd be de first time in U.S. history dat an unresowved civiw rights case wouwd be re-opened. Byron De La Beckwif, a member of de Ku Kwux Kwan, was tried for de murder on two previous occasions and it resuwted wif a hung jury. However, he was finawwy sentenced to wife in prison in 1994. Presented wif testimony of two FBI informants who had infiwtrated de KKK, de missing transcript from de first triaw, de rewocation of missing witnesses, numerous witness admissions of Beckwif bragging about his rowe in de murder and Beckwif’s own racist writings, a mixed race jury found Beckwif guiwty of murder. Even dough De La Beckwif was 73 years of age when he was sentenced to wife in prison, de 1994 conviction has been interpreted as a way for Mississippi to shed its racist past.[75]

According to a November 2016 report issued by de FBI hate crime statistics are on de rise in de United States.[76] The number of hate crimes increased from 5,850 in 2015, to 6,121 hate crime incidents in 2016,an increase of 4.6 percent.[77][78][79]

The wargest singwe category of hate crimes in de United States are committed against African Americans: of de 8,208 hate crimes reported to de FBI in 2010, 48% were race rewated – wif 70% of dose having an anti-bwack bias.[80] This is bewieved to be based on de history of African swavery in dis country. One of de wargest waves of hate crimes took pwace during de Civiw Rights Movement. During de 1950s and 1960s, bof viowence and dreats of viowence were common against African Americans, and hundreds of wives were wost due to such acts. Members of dis sociaw cwass faced viowence from groups such as de Ku Kwux Kwan as weww as viowence from individuaws who were committed to maintaining segregation.[81] At de time, civiw rights weaders such as Martin Luder King Jr. and deir supporters fought hard for de right of African Americans to vote as weww as for eqwawity in deir everyday wives. African Americans have been de target of hate crimes since de Civiw War,[82] and de humiwiation of dis sociaw cwass was awso desired by many Anti-bwack individuaws. Oder freqwentwy reported bias motivations were bias against a rewigion, bias against a particuwar sexuaw orientation, and bias against a particuwar ednicity/nationaw origin, uh-hah-hah-hah.[80] At times, dese bias motivations overwapped, because viowence can be bof anti-gay and anti-bwack, for exampwe.[83]

Anawysts have compared groups in terms of de per capita rate of hate crimes committed against dem, to awwow for differing popuwations. Overaww, de totaw number of hate crimes committed since de first hate crime biww was passed in 1997 is 86,582.[84]

In Braziw, hate crime waws focus on racism, raciaw injury, and oder speciaw bias-motivated crimes such as, for exampwe, murder by deaf sqwads[100] and genocide on de grounds of nationawity, ednicity, race or rewigion, uh-hah-hah-hah.[101] Murder by deaf sqwads and genocide are wegawwy cwassified as "hideous crimes" (crimes hediondos in Portuguese).[102]

The crimes of racism and raciaw injury, awdough simiwar, are enforced swightwy differentwy.[103] Articwe 140, 3rd paragraph, of de Penaw Code estabwishes a harsher penawty, from a minimum of 1 year to a maximum of 3 years, for injuries motivated by "ewements referring to race, cowor, ednicity, rewigion, origin, or de condition of being an aged or disabwed person".[104] On de oder side, Law 7716/1989 covers "crimes resuwting from discrimination or prejudice on de grounds of race, cowor, ednicity, rewigion, or nationaw origin".[105]

In addition, de Braziwian Constitution defines as a "fundamentaw goaw of de Repubwic" (Articwe 3rd, cwause IV) "to promote de weww-being of aww, wif no prejudice as to origin, race, sex, cowor, age, and any oder forms of discrimination".[106]

Justifications for harsher punishments for hate crimes focus on de notion dat hate crimes cause greater individuaw and societaw harm.[citation needed] It is said[109] dat, when de core of a person’s identity is attacked, de degradation and dehumanization is especiawwy severe, and additionaw emotionaw and physiowogicaw probwems are wikewy to resuwt. Society den, in turn, can suffer from de disempowerment of a group of peopwe.[citation needed] Furdermore, it is asserted dat de chances for retawiatory crimes are greater when a hate crime has been committed. The riots in Los Angewes, Cawifornia dat fowwowed de beating of Rodney King, a Bwack motorist, by a group of White powice officers are cited as support for dis argument.[10] The beating of white truck driver Reginawd Denny by bwack rioters during de same riot is awso an exampwe dat supports dis argument.

The U.S. Supreme Court unanimouswy found de St. Pauw Bias-Motivated Crime Ordinance amounted to viewpoint-based discrimination is in confwict wif rights of free speech, because it sewectivewy criminawized bias-motivated speech or symbowic speech for disfavored topics whiwe permitting such speech for oder topics.[112] Many critics furder assert dat it confwicts wif an even more fundamentaw right: free dought. The cwaim is dat hate-crime wegiswation effectivewy makes certain ideas or bewiefs, incwuding rewigious ones, iwwegaw, in oder words, dought crimes.[113][114][115][116][117][118][119]

In deir book Hate Crimes: Criminaw Law and Identity Powitics, James B. Jacobs and Kimberwy Potter criticize hate crime wegiswation for exacerbating confwicts between groups. They assert dat by defining crimes as being committed by one group against anoder, rader dan as being committed by individuaws against deir society, de wabewing of crimes as "hate crimes" causes groups to feew persecuted by one anoder, and dat dis impression of persecution can incite a backwash and dus wead to an actuaw increase in crime.[120] Some have argued hate crime waws bring de waw into disrepute and furder divide society, as groups appwy to have deir critics siwenced.[121] Some have argued dat if it is true dat aww viowent crimes are de resuwt of de perpetrator's contempt for de victim, den aww crimes are hate crimes. Thus, if dere is no awternate rationawe for prosecuting some peopwe more harshwy for de same crime based on who de victim is, den different defendants are treated uneqwawwy under de waw, which viowates de United States Constitution.[122] American forensic psychowogist Karen Frankwin said dat de term hate crime is somewhat misweading since it assumes dere is a hatefuw motivation which is not present in many occasions;[123] in her view, waws to punish peopwe who commit hate crimes may not be de best remedy for preventing dem because de dreat of future punishment does not usuawwy deter such criminaw acts.[124] Some on de powiticaw weft have been criticaw of hate crime waws for expanding de criminaw justice system and deawing wif viowence against minority groups drough punitive measures.[6]

^Penaw Code (39/1889) as of 1006/2004. §§ 6:5.1.4 (ednic hatred as an aggravating factor), 11:8 (ednic agitation) and 12:2 (warmongering). The points cited remain in force on de day of retrievaw, checked from de Finnish version: Rikoswaki. The Government proposaw HE 55/2007Archived 2011-03-11 at de Wayback Machine. wiww move de § 11:8 to §11:10 widout changing de content, if de proposaw is passed by de Parwiament of Finwand. Retrieved 11-23-2007.